Heat engine



2 Sheets-Sheet l @vrnegf HEAT ENGINE .1'. F. J. MALONE Filed Feb. 27

March 18 1924.

March 18 1924.

J. F. J. MALONE HEAT ENGINE Filed Feb. 2'7, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fatented Mar. 18, 1924.

lllplll ll JOHN FOX JENNENS MALG'NE. OF NEJ'CASTLE-ONeTYE, ENGLAND.

HEAT ENGINE.

Application filed February 27, 1923.

To all ythi/"irait t m @y concer/u.

Be it known that I, .loi-rn FOX JnNNnNs Marions, a subject of they King oi: Great Britain, residing in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Heat- Engine, ot which the following is a specification.

rThe invention relates to heat engines and contemplates an arrangement by which the woriring medium is alternately displaced by a rain or plunger from one end to the other of a cylinder ot which one end is maintained at a high temperature by an externally applied source of heat and of which the other end is cooled b v a flow of water or other suitable means. he working medium is a liquid of high thermal conductivity adapted to stand the required range of temperature without change of state. Mercury and an alloy of mercury and lead are vexamples of suitable liquids.

`Within the cylinder and yieldingly connected to the ram is an apparatus, which is herein termed a displacer, through or around which the working medium is forced to pass on its passage from one end to the other ot' the cylinder. The displacer moves with the ram tor a part only of the inward and outward strokes of the latter and is held stationary against stops provided in the cylinder during the last part of each stroke of the ram. While the displacer is moving with the ram the pressure in the cylinder is constant, and while the ram is completing` the remainder of its stroke the pressure is raised from the lowest to the highest value or lowered from the highest to the lowest value.

The excess ot power exerted over that ab# sorbed occurs during the period when the ram and the displacer are moving together under constant high pressure, a comparatively small amount ot power being absorbed during the period when the ram and displacer are moved together at constant low pressure; the power absorbed and given out during the two periods or1 the cycle when the displacer is stationary approximately balance.

As the working medium passes' through or around the displacer 4its temperature is raised or lowered, but although the total range of temperaturebetween the ends ot the cylinder may amount to some hundreds of degrees, the range oit temperature of any particular portion of the medium is very Serial No. 621,594.

limited anddepends upon its actual displacement in the cylinder. The ram may be connected in any well known manner with a crankshaft, or for purposes such as driving pumps, the crank shaft may be unnecessary.

Several cylinders with their rams and displacing devices are provided to act inV con- `iuction, the description being limited to one cylinder as the other cylinders would be of similar construction.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a central section of a cylinder and ram according to the invention; Figs. 2 to 5 show the ram and displacer in different positions of the working cycle; Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the engine partly in section and on an enlarged scale; and Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of the device for connecting the ram and displacer. I f

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1, 1 is a steel cylinder of relatively great length and small diameter closed at the end 2. This end of the cylinder is maintained at a high temperature by any suitable source of heat indicated at A Fig. 6), the other end of the cylinder being cooled,`tor example, by immersion in a tank B through which waterA flows.

A ram or plunger 3 is connected by a key 4 to a sleeve 5 secured to a gudgeon pin 6, the gudgeon 7 engaging in known manner with connect-ing rods C and cranks D.

The ram 3 is reciprocated in a fixed guide 8 disposed within and co-aXial with the sleeve 5, a slot 9 in the guide allowing for the longitudinal movement of the key 4; the n guide is screw-threaded at 10 and engages with aninternal thread 11 provided at one end of a gland 12, the other-end of which enters the cylinder 1. The bore of the gland is enlarged to receive the ram guide and leathers 13 abutting against a shoulder 14 of the gland prevent'the entrance of air or the escape of fluid at this part of the stroke of the ram. An opening 15 in the gland 12 allows a pressure gauge to be itted at this part and other openingsl and 17 act, respectively, as inlet and outlet for lubricating oil tothe gland. These latter openings are shown in the drawings as closed by plugs.

The inner end 18 of the gland lits in the bore 19 of the cylinder 1, anV enlarged kportion 20 of the gland bears against a shoul- Cil der 21 of the cylinder' wall7 the bore of which is enlarged at the outer end and screw-threaded to receive the external thread of a gland nut 22.

rlhe rain 3 is extended so that at the limit of its outui'ard stroke it approximately reaches the inner wall 23 of the closed end of the cylinder. The ram is surrounded by a displacer 24, which. in the example illustrated, consists of a tube 25 containing a porous mass of, for -zample, line wires: and the tube 25 is held ateach end in cylindrical blocks 26 and 27 fitting loosely in the cylinder bore. The displacer moves with the rain for a part only of the reciprocating movement of the latter. F or this purpose a yielding connection between the ram and the displacer is provided by a spring 28 secured to the'wall of the displacer and carrying a pin 29 fitting in a lug 30 of the tube 25 and adapted to engage in recesses 31 and 32 provided in the rain 3. ln the position shown in Fig. l both the displacer and the ram Vare at the limit of the forward stroke; on the return stroke the ram carries the displacer 24 with it until the end 26 of the displacer reaches the end 18 of the gland l2. The pin29 of the spring 28 then leaves the recess 3l and the ram continues its movement, while the displacer remains stationary.

Ilhe space within the cylinder, not occupied by the am and the displacer, is filled with the working medium. for example a mobile alloy of mercury and lead.

Buring the first part of the forward stroke of the ram, both ram and plunger move together, the pin 29 engaging in the recess 32; when half the stroke has been completed the end 2? of the displacer reaches the shoulder 23 at the end of the cylinder bore and remains stationary while the ram continues the stroke.

Vrilthough in the example illustrated-it is assumed that the longitudinal movement of the displacer is half that of the ram7 other ratios may be adopted in dependence on the compressibility of'thermedium and the maximum value of the permissible pressure.

The cylinder is cooled by a iiow of water or in other suitable manner at the gland end and is heated as stated above at the closed end.

lf we assume the crank actuated by the gudgeon 9 to be originally on the dead centre furthest from the cylinder the cycle of operations Ywill be as illustrated in the diagrams 2 5. Y

During the first quadrant of the rotation of the crank the displace-r 24 and the ram 3 move together towards the closed end of the cylinder and the greater part of the working medium has been displaced from the hot end 23 to the cold end 18 of the cylinder as shown in Fig. 2 and the volume has been correspondingly reduced; displace` medium to its maximum value; all the liquid y has now been transferred to the cool end of the cylinder and the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 3. Y

In the third quadrant, the rain and the displacer move together from the hot to the cold end of the cylinder until the displacer arrives at the end 18 of the gland; during this stroke the liquid is transferred from the cold to the hot end of the cylinder and is thereby expanded and the stroke is effected under a constant high pressure and constitutes the source of power of the engine.

ln the last quadrant, the ram alone moves and regains its initial position and reduces the pressure of the working medium from the highest to the lowest value.

In the first quadrant of the next revolution the piston and displacer again move to` the heated end of the cylinder as explained above.

In the first quadrant, the power absorbed is only that necessary to drive theA liquid through the displacer from the hot to the cold end of the cylinder and to overcome the friction of themoving parts. rlhe power absorbed in the second quadrant, except for frictional losses, balances that given out in the fourth quadrant. Y

The relation between the diameter' of th ram and the sectional area of the solid content of the displacer is determined by the expansion of the medium due to the actual change of temperature. Y

The maximuintemperatures and pressures employed are limited by the strength of the metal of which the hot'end of the cylinder is composed. y

As the temperature of each portion of the liquid must be raised and then lowered in every revolution of the crank, it is important that the displacer should provide a large conducting surface relatively to the mass of the contained'liquid.

In the arrangement illustrated there are no valves and only one gland andthe same mass of liquid remains, without alteration of state in the cylinder throughout the working of the engine.

Having thus described the nature of the said invention and the best means know of carrying the saine into practical effect, l claim :w

l. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder and means for maintaining the ends of the cylinder at a constant difference of temperature, a ram adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder7 a displacer reciprocable in the cylinder, means for connecting the-displacer with said ram toV be reciprocated thereby during part of the stroke ol the ram and to be idle during another part of the stroke thereof, and a liquid in said cylinder alternately moved towards either end of the cylinder' by said displacer.

2. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder and means for maintaining the ends of the cylinder at a constant difference of temperature, a ram adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder, a displacer reciprocable in the cylinder, means for connecting the displacer with said ram to be reciprocated thereby during` the first part of the stroke of the ram and to be idle during the rest ofthe stroke thereof, a liquid in said cylinder alternately moved towards either end of the cylinder by said displacer, a crank shaft, and means operated by said ram for causing said crank shaft to rotate.

3. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder and means for maintaining the ends of the cylinder at a constant difference of temperature, a ram adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder, a displacer reciprocable in the cylinder and having means for yieldingly connecting it with said ram, means being provided for limiting the movement of the displacer so that the latter reciprocates through a portion only of the stroke of said ram, and a liquid in said cylinder alternately moved towards either endv of the cylinder by said displacer.

4. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder, a source of heat at one end of said cylinder and a cooling agent at the other end of said cylinder, a ram adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder, a displacer reciprocable in the cylinder and having means for connecting and disconnecting it with respect to said ram to reciprocate therewith during one part of each stroke of the ram and to be idle during another part of each stroke thereof, and a liquid in said cylinder alternately moved towards either end of the cylinder by said displacer.

5. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder, a displacer loosely fitting in said cylinder, a reciprocatory ram within said displacer and having means for intermittently connecting it to said displacer to cause reciprocation of the latter during part of each stroke of the ram, a liquid alternately moved from one end to the other of said cylinder by said ram and said displacer, a crank shaft and means by which the reciprocating motion of said ram causes said crank shaft to rotate.

6. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder and means for maintaining the ends of the cylinder at a constant difference of temperature, a ram adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder, a displacer consisting of a porous material loosely iitting in said cylinder and having means for intermittently connecting it to saidram to cause reciprocation of the displacer in said cylinder through a part only of the stroke of said ram, and aY liquid in said cylinder alternately moved towards either end of the cylinder by said displacer.

7. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder and means for maintaining the ends of the cylinder at a constant dierence of temperature, a ram adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder, a displacer reciprocable within the cylinder and having means for yieldingly connecting it with said ram, means being provided for limiting the reciprocation of the displacer to a movement Y less than that of the ram, and a liquid of high thermal conductivity and adapted to withstand the required range of temperature without change of state.

8. A heat engine comprising in combination a cylinder and means for maintaining the ends of the cylinder at a constant difference of temperature, a ram adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder, a displacer reciprocating in said cylinder, a liquid in said cylinder alternately moved towards either end of the cylinder by said displacer, and means for connecting and disconnecting the ram and displacer by which, when said displacer has transferred said liquid from the hot to the cold end of said cylinder, the ram moves on alone to raise the pressure of said liquid, and, when said displacer has transferred the liquid from the cold to the hot end of said cylinder, said ram moves on alone to reduce the pressure of said liquid.

9. A heat engine comprising a cylinder of relatively great length and small diameter, one end of the cylinder being maintained at a high temperature by an externally applied source of heat and the other end of said cylinder being cooled by a cooling agent, a ram reciprocating within the cylinder, and a displacer having means for yieldingly connecting it to the ram and moving with the latter through part only of its stroke, Said cylinder providing stops for limiting the movement of the displacer.

lO. A heat engine comprising a cylinder of relatively great length and small diameter, one end of the cylinder being adapted to be maintained at a high temperature by an externally applied source of heat and the other end of said cylinder being adapted to be cooled by a cooling agent, a ram reciprocating within the cylinder, a displacer moving with the ram through part only of its stroke, the ram having recesses in its periphery, and a spring pin carried by the displacer and adapted to engage in said recesses and release the connection between said ram and said displacer when the latter reachesl either end of the cylinder.

l1. A heat engine comprising a cylinder of relatively great length and sinall dia1neter, one end` vof the cylinder being adapted to be maintained at a high temperature by an externally applied source of heat and the other end of Said cylinder being adapted to be cooled by a cooling agent, said cylin-V der being Closed at the heated end and open at the cooled end, a rain reciprocating Within the cylinder, a gland at the open end of the cylinder forming a guide and support for said ram, a displaoer having ineans for detachably connecting it to the ram to move With it through part only of its stroke, and a liquid alternately inoved by the dis placer from one end to the other of. the cylinder.

In testimony whereof have'signed my Ynaine to this specification.

JOHN FOX JENNENS MALONE. 

